TAP launches pre-qualification for onshore line pipes, bends

"The scope for this contract has been divided into six lots which will be delivered to marshalling yards in Kavala and Thessaloniki in Greece and Durres in Albania," TAP said in a press release.

The line pipes should have total length of approximately 780 kilometres, total weight of 443,000 tonnes, a diameter of 48 inches and 36 inches respectively, it added.

“TAP has divided this particular contract into six separate lots in order to give the maximum opportunity for companies to prequalify," Knut Steinar Kvindesland, procurement director at TAP, said.

TAP plans to launch the pre-qualification process for offshore line pipes at the beginning of 2015.

TAP, with an approximate length of 870 kilometres, will transport natural gas from the Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan to Europe. It will start at Kipoi, near the Turkish-Greek border, and cross Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in southern Italy. TAP’s routing can facilitate gas supply to several Southeast European countries, including Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and others.

TAP’s shareholding is comprised of BP (20%), SOCAR (20%), Statoil (20%), Fluxys (19%), Enagas (16%) and Axpo (5%).